Evie Richards had a dusty baptism to her 2018 season, with a bronze medal in the U23 women’s race at the opening round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup series in Stellenbosch. The 21-year-old specialises in XCO and cyclocross racing and is the current U23 cyclocross world champion, in addition to her podium in Stellenbosch.

Her bike of choice on the Coetzenburg track was the Trek Top Fuel 9.9. Bar a few custom tweaks, her bike is pretty much stock standard – close to what anyone can buy off the shop floor.

Frame

The frame and swing-arm are both Trek’s OCLV carbon.

Wheels

Bontrager Kovee carbon wheelset with Bontrager 2.20 XR1 tyres front and rear, for fast rolling.

Drivetrain

The SRAM Eagle XX1 gold takes up drivetrain duty, with an MRP chainkeeper to guard against any chain drops.

Braking

SRAM Levels provides the braking solutions. A 140mm rotor is enough for Richards’ lightweight body, and cuts back on bike weight without sacrificing stopping power.

Dropper Post

Richards chose the RockShox Reverb for this course. A number of riders in both the elite women and the U23s ran dropper posts at Coetzenburg.

Suspension

The suspension is standard, bar some custom tuning – and an interesting integrated twist grip, which activates both front and rear shocks. This also minimises clutter around the dropper-post lever. The eagle-eyed will notice that a full cable is used for lockout, as opposed to the more common hydraulic lockout.

Extras

A personal touch is the Union Jack topcap, just above a memorial sticker dedicated to 15-year old racer Charlie Craig. More info at rideforcharlie.com.

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